Kartik Agaram

Building simple, low-maintenance programs that reward curiosity about their internals.

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npub1a7z9gd5tk2erqjvgu7rr4lnpn07mx5fvwq05ktnrwlkd98yqj8xsrdtenc

NIP-05 Address

akkartik_at_merveilles.town@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswlpz5x69m9v3sfxyw0p36lesehldn2yk8q86t9e3h0mxjnjqfrngpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9nhwden5te0wfjkccte9ehx7um5wghxyctwvscylst5

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relay.nostr.band

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npub1a7z9gd5tk2erqjvgu7rr4lnpn07mx5fvwq05ktnrwlkd98yqj8xsrdtenc

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Last Notes

2025-04-21 00:49:27

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@nprofile…9wrc Ah, I did see that. Just seemed like a lifetime ago.

2025-04-21 00:22:39

@nprofile…9wrc Does https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/04/20/keynesian-compromise imply that the current US trade policy is right? Or that it's redressing a real problem even if too bluntly, incompetently, etc.?

2025-04-09 18:06:04

“You’re telling me that seeing has a cost?”
“No one wants to believe it, but yeah. Collective awareness is finite. Too much load, and the System starts dropping frames."
https://protocolized.summerofprotocols.com/p/fault-tolerance
#decentralization #fiction

2025-04-06 15:14:54

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@nprofile…cvt4
"If I look at any small part of it, I can see what is going on—I don’t need to refer to other parts to understand what something is doing."
"If I look at any large part in overview, I can see what is going on—I don’t need to know all the details to get it."
"Every level of detail is as locally coherent and as well thought out as any other level."
Also #RichardGabriel, "Patterns of software", https://dreamsongs.com/Files/PatternsOfSoftware.pdf, pg 42 (as opposed to pg 23 for your quote)

2025-04-05 06:10:51

Automatically selecting colors with sufficient contrast.
Here's a test build of my hypertext browser where every "page load" picks a random background. The foreground and link colors adapt to preserve a minimum contrast (WCAG AAA level).
Colors in my markup language are no longer rgb.
Background colors are strings of the form 'hue:intensity:lightness', e.g. 'red:5:4'
Foreground colors can contain just 'hue' or 'hue:intensity'. Missing fields get filled in to maintain contrast.
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/114/283/862/376/952/313/original/d9f2099e429e98de.mp4

2025-02-14 13:37:39

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@nprofile…cvt4 Do you typically mar the aesthetics with any text while you're debugging? In the vein of Tufte's "show the data"?

2025-02-13 17:59:38

So, I've published a static site generator, as one does.
https://git.sr.ht/~akkartik/gen_site
Unique points:
- Lua and only Lua
- no Markdown, you have to edit HTML
A couple of years ago I ripped out my old Rails site and replaced it with static html cobbled together with some scripts. Many thanks to @nprofile…qdpu for nudging me to find some reusable core in it.
I always assumed there'd be a zillion SSGs in any language, but surprisingly I can't find more than a couple in #Lua. If you like one please share.

2025-01-20 07:58:16

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@nprofile…cvt4 I haven't forgotten this 🙂
Where's this algorithm from? Closest I could find to it was https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/290200.290219
@nprofile…y6g5 @nprofile…sykf
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/113/859/595/810/383/654/original/213ef2c120b595d0.png
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/113/859/595/813/003/729/original/de5e93fbb744df74.png
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/113/859/595/949/434/161/original/6ce266e1333e9d9b.mp4

2025-01-08 20:59:31

Boom.
https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-feelings-are-facts-love-privacy-and-the-politics-of-intellectual-shame
Thanks @nprofile…qyhu
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/113/794/727/939/319/635/original/857552582509b618.mp4

2025-01-07 22:45:48

I haven't seen a new Literate Programming system in a while. Feels good to scratch this dormant itch.
https://github.com/ganelson/inweb

2025-01-03 22:41:58

I spent this morning packing circles.
Many thanks to @nprofile…hv29 for the inspiration (https://genart.social/@ronikaufman/113764788131792092)
1. Piet Mondrian, "Composition A" (1923)
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/113/766/820/115/540/194/original/a27ec3db21d2212e.jpg
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/113/766/820/186/986/187/original/3fe7f8a49381e518.png

2025-01-01 06:21:32

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@nprofile…9wrc Noob question: what is bank vs nonbank credit?

2024-12-29 00:34:01

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@nprofile…u4rg @nprofile…9wrc Agreed.
So much of what we call growth has allowed me to set a higher bar on my interactions. I spend my life talking to people far away about stuff I truly care about, over small talk with people near by (extended family, neighbors) that I don't really share much with.
Things are getting worse, but it's still a better time to be an introvert than in most of history. More upside on offer for those willing to be thoughtful about their attention and tech choices.

2024-12-26 18:04:12

Browser update. As my Christmas present I've switched my backup browser from Firefox to Zen. It has some sharp edges, and I don't care about the UI one way or another. But I've been able to find eldritch preferences for everything I care about, most Firefox extensions work, and I get the sweet sweet sense of punishing Mozilla Foundation here and now while mooching off the fruit of their accumulated labors over the decades.
All this is only where SeaMonkey doesn't work, of course.

2024-12-25 16:52:55

Has anyone ever tried to expose a thesaurus as a graph?

2024-12-23 16:14:49

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@nprofile…y6g5 @nprofile…cvt4 😬
https://paste.sr.ht/blob/320bb94ba7775d1ec60113437e4240b626988343

2024-12-23 05:02:18

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@nprofile…9wrc Congratulations. I promised myself I wouldn't pay attention to his bullshit this time around. You have broken through.

2024-12-23 04:54:59

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@nprofile…9wrc Hmm, I suppose foreign policy has even fewer checks and balances on him than domestic?

2024-12-23 04:48:37

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@nprofile…9wrc Maybe I'm wrong but I feel sanguine about this. Even Putin needed 15+ years to build up to a real invasion. And it's not like America doesn't already have enough misdeeds for Russia and China to point to. On balance, any time Trump spends thinking about foreign policy is time he's not thinking about domestic policy.

2024-12-20 22:35:09

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@nprofile…9wrc Is the shutdown happening for real? I've been avoiding the news.

2024-12-07 06:51:49

My #DecemberAdventure has so far mostly been quite tedious, with lots of staring at diffs and git logs. The result: a whole new implementation of Lua Carousel.
https://akkartik.itch.io/carousel
There should be no visible changes. That's what the tedious work was for.
Inside, the guts are dramatically redone. Lot fewer moving parts, 20% smaller download. I've used the new guts in 7 previous apps since July.
https://akkartik.name/post/2024-07-22-devlog
https://akkartik.name/freewheeling-apps

2024-12-01 17:25:28

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@nprofile…y6g5 My adventure is going to be reading every single post I can find.

2024-11-25 04:37:14

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@nprofile…y6g5 Jeez, I need to sit with this one.
A pedestrian comment: excellent use of 'delve'.

2024-11-21 02:51:01

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@nprofile…9wrc Interesting that low information, go-with-your-gut voters didn't see Biden as someone cautious, scripted, hiding something. I wonder how much of this is sexism.
Certainly, reading something like https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/donald-trump-vote-margin-narrowed made me think Hillary Clinton was just never going to win, period. Her emails, Comey, none of that mattered, I think. She was just less popular than Harris, period.

2024-11-17 17:51:13

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@nprofile…9wrc I bet you "genocide Don" never becomes a meme.
Only the good die young.

2024-11-17 03:32:44

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@nprofile…cvt4 Is emacs also your web browser? Or would you click from the feedreader to open in browser to view images or complex markup?
@nprofile…g8vl

2024-11-16 15:58:20

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@nprofile…r5mx TIL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_massacre
So https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre was part of a pattern! I need to slowly go through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_racial_violence_in_the_United_States

2024-11-03 21:53:38

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@npub1lse…5d80 As a thought experiment, I think a parallel universe where everybody used Twitter as it grew popular but also was quick to adopt other networks like Diaspora and spend meaningful time on them -- this would be absolutely fine. What do you think?
I personally find a frame of personal resilience more actionable than ethics. What is good is what is adaptive in the long term. If you can adapt when your environment changes, you're likely behaving ethically.

2024-11-03 19:44:41

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@npub1lse…5d80 There's absolutely nothing wrong in ever diversifying your consumption habits -- as long as you don't let addiction kill other options in your habits down the road.

2024-10-28 00:56:18

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@npub1qu5…4evr @npub1j9d…vau4 @npub10y3…ee7s Yes, with a suggestion by @npub1qdm…f00z

2024-10-27 23:40:51

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@npub1qu5…4evr @npub1j9d…vau4 @npub10y3…ee7s I just remembered that I made something with silly shapes as well a year or two ago.
Not too many levels, though. I should add more. 7yos enjoy it more than 4yos.
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/113/382/010/176/852/160/original/3a06f8c507e28c27.mp4

2024-10-27 18:18:00

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@npub1lse…5d80 I'd rather see them try to manufacture despondency than complacency.
I think Harris will win. What worries me is the gridlock afterwards. I think executive immunity may be fixed now forever. And everything else.

2024-10-21 03:51:42

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@npub1qu5…4evr These folding instructions are so cute :pilin:

2024-10-15 15:25:03

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@npub1qu5…4evr Those first 2 movies still got it. Particularly if you're 7 years old haha.

2024-10-15 15:22:59

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@npub1qu5…4evr Hey, we just watched the Superman movies this weekend!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN4xBqA44M4

2024-09-15 20:41:16

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@npub1qu5…4evr https://llllllll.co seems ok for me.

2024-08-28 00:42:05

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@npub1qu5…4evr I didn't understand this at all 😄

2024-06-28 03:32:03

Everyone (not conservatives): well, that debate sucks. I can't stand to watch it.
Trump supporters: "greatest debate performance and victory in history to the largest voter audience in history."
Is this why the US will resume its slide away from democracy? 😬

2024-06-17 16:53:47

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@npub1qu5…4evr Wow it's really cool how you can just draw random lines and the electrons will flow through them.

2024-06-15 18:16:39

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@npub1qu5…4evr Wow, this author doesn't seem to have a Wikipedia page.

2024-05-16 11:14:34

Achievement unlocked:
On a real website
For a real, unavoidable purpose
Having unavoidably to click on a link
Sliding cheerfully along within a marquee element.
It would be hilarious if it wasn't fucking Kafkaesque.

2024-05-16 11:14:34

2024-04-30 13:23:38

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@npub1km9…rh4n Domains are such a scam.
Give it an IP address.

2024-04-11 02:21:21

"Running untrusted code" is a bad way to think about things.
The right way to think about things: running code is an act of trust. A leap of faith. You're de facto choosing to trust someone, whether you know it or not.

2024-04-10 23:31:53

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@npub1km9…rh4n Mankind has not yet earned the network.

2024-04-08 13:36:08

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@npub1f3s…jzfc I believe it's all done! Racket uses Chez Scheme now.

2024-04-08 01:35:30

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@npub1km9…rh4n Whoa, that's way more than me. But I suspect if you just find your music any which way and donate $15/mo directly to some artist or other, you're having more impact for artists than your Spotify subscription.

2024-04-08 01:23:44

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@npub1km9…rh4n All ways of juicing their numbers.
Alexa is basically persona non grata with me for playing random shit after the song I ask it to play. After 10 years I'm back to mp3s on my local machine.

2024-03-27 01:51:45

Someone mentions on a programming language mailing list, on a thread about something else, that they wrote a book about the language a few years ago. Though it may not support the latest version.
One of the creators of the language responds a few hours later to say they just tried out all the code samples with the latest version, and everything works fine.
♥️

2024-03-17 17:15:10

This is quite amazing: a 2D shell
https://www.spinellis.gr/sw/dgsh
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/112/112/143/047/682/275/original/5f216fa7f456e9fa.png

2024-03-08 05:12:11

SolveSpace, an open source program for parametric CAD
https://solvespace.com
Thanks @npub1rzp…prt6

2023-01-06 02:25:02

#introductions
I got into programming for idealistic reasons, try hard to hold on to that feeling. In spite of everything, I still believe computers can be empowering. But you can't delegate their care to a mechanic, certainly not a mechanic with millions of customers. These days I try to create programs that run anywhere, show off their inner workings, are trivial to modify, let you make mistakes and help you understand what went wrong. I call these freewheeling apps.
http://akkartik.name/post/roundup22
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/109/639/868/490/456/249/original/226a3a33163b92be.png
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/109/639/869/018/809/031/original/827b32206d89089b.png
https://assets.merveilles.town/media_attachments/files/109/639/870/137/748/180/original/32927a94b31e6a82.png